Prajna Capital - An Investment Guide

If you delay informing the bank, you may end up with a huge balance. Unless, of course, you have covered the card against fraud WHAT’S the first thing you should do if you lose your credit card? Just call up the bank’s 24 hour call centre and deactivate the card. This should take precedence even over your attempt to track your wallet in the lost trail. This is because very few banks in India offer protection against fraudulent use of credit cards. Of course, you can breathe a little easy if your bank insures your lost card from any misuse. Standard Chartered Bank, for instance, has tied up with Tata AIG General Insurance Company to launch the ‘Plus Extended Protection Plan’ last week. This product, which has to be bought separately, will cover the card customers from any possible fraudulent use of the cards prior to reporting the loss. “We receive several lost card reports in a month. The product will ensure protection to our customers against any fraudulent use. The insuranc...

This one has had a colourful history of ownership. It started off as ANZ Grindlays Mutual Fund in 2000 and was renamed Standard Chartered Mutual Fund after the takeover of Grindlays Bank by Standard Chartered Bank. This year, the AMC was sold to Infrastructure Development Finance Company Limited (IDFC) for approx $205 million, a high price indeed. A specialised debt fund house, it moved into equity in 2005. Since then, it has made a sustained attempt to increase its exposure to equity, which now stands at 23 per cent. This AMC introduced many new products in the category of debt funds, like the short-term fund and the dynamic fund. It also introduced a fund of funds which invests only in debt funds. Another first was the introduction of funds which sought to provide capital protection and stable returns. The fund house also set new service standards- it was the first one to offer same day redemption for cash funds and next day redemption for income funds. In the past, most of the deb...